April 2008 archive
Kate Brown wins Democratic nomination in Oregon
May 21, 2008
Kate Brown won a decisive victory in Oregon's Democratic Secretary of State primary.
Endorsed by the Oregonian and other leading newspapers, Brown is a strong voice for ethics reform and has pledged not to get involved in political campaigns while serving as the state's chief election officer if elected. As a legislator, she has also made her mark as a supporter of domestic partnership legislation.
Brown will face Republican Rick Dancer in the general election. Rick Dancer enjoys unusually high name recognition for a down ballot candidate -- he's a TV news anchorman. Many were shocked when he announced his candidacy for Secretary of State live on air during his evening television news broadcast. Dancer's station is owned by a conservative who has given over $90,000 to Republican candidates in recent years.
To raise the sakes, Oregon is one of five states: Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Virginia - that place no limits on campaign contributions to candidates.
Stay tuned for more on Kate Brown's general election candidacy.
Tennant wins West Virginia primary
May 14, 2008
Natalie Tennant won a decisive victory in the West Virgina Democratic Secretary of State primary.
She campaigned on a platform that included making it easier for students to vote, increasing citizen participation in the pollworker program and encouraging peer-to-peer get out the vote programs.
A former television news anchor, Tennant beat out Senate Majority Leader Joe DeLong, even though he outspent her $263,528 to $41,684 (according to the latest campaign finance reports).
She faces Charles Minimah, the republican nominee, in the general election. Minimah was unopposed in the primary.
If Tennant is elected, she will replace Republican Secretary of State Betty Ireland who decided not to run for another term. Ireland is currently working hard to oppose Election Day Registration in West Virginia.
Cuyahoga County can count
May 06, 2008
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner -- elected with help from the Secretary of State Project -- can claim a new victory today.
CLEVELAND (AP) - The elections board in Cuyahoga County says a hand-count audit of votes from the presidential primary matches the results from scanned paper ballots.
A sample of 30,000 paper ballots from 99 precincts were hand-counted by teams composed of Republicans and Democrats last week.
Board of Elections Deputy Director Pat McDonald said Monday that the voluntary audit was part of a pilot program of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to help determine consistency and performance of high-speed optical scanning.
Cuyahoga County switched to high-speed optical scan from touch-screen electronic voting for the March 4 primary.
It was SoS Brunner who required Cuyahoga County to switch from DREs to optical scan ballots. Finally Cuyahoga County can count.
2008 races
April 30, 2008
In 2006, the Secretary of State Project raised over $500,000 and helped elect five reformers in key battleground states. Dollar for dollar, our model was one of the most effective political investments of the cycle. We are continuing this work in 2008.
There are two states with open races for Secretary of State in 2008: Oregon and West Virginia.
In Oregon, three State Senators are running for the Democratic nomination: Kate Brown, Vicki Walker, and Rick Metsger. The winner will be determined in the primary on May 20.
West Virginia’s primary is May 13. Three candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination there: Billy Wayne Bailey, Joe DeLong, and Natalie Tennant.
In two states there will be challenges to a sitting incumbent Republican. In Montana, Democrat Linda McCulloch is trying to unseat ultra-conservative Brad Johnson. In Washington, Democratic candidates have until June 6 to file to take on Republican Sam Reed.
In Missouri, Democrat Robin Carnahan should easily win reelection to her chief election officer position. However, given the importance of a fair election in Missouri, we need to be vigilant in this state.
We are also looking to elect reform-minded Democrats to key county posts in 2008 battleground states. A number of stark examples from 2004 and 2000, like Cuyahoga Co. in Ohio and Broward Co. in Florida, prove that manipulative county-level elections officials can exert a tremendous amount of influence over their results. Removing Republican operatives in two or three key counties could have a profound effect on the election.
If you have suggestions for 2008 targeting email us at secstateproject - at - gmail - dot - com.
Voter ID in Indiana: Another Reason Why Secretaries of State Matter
On Monday, the Supreme Court showed once again why Secretaries of State matter. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the conservative Court gave Indiana the green light to impose draconian photo ID requirements for voting. Despite no evidence that any fraudulent votes had ever been cast in-person in Indiana, it is now constitutional for Indiana to force voters to show an ID at the polls. This will surely prevent many eligible citizens from casting a vote that counts.
Who will be affected? Poor and older voters who do not have drivers licenses. Young people. Minorities. What's worse, now that the Supreme Court has approved Indiana's ID law, Republicans will try to pass similar laws in other states. This will help them game elections by suppressing the vote of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
What does this have to do with Secretaries of State? One of the most vocal champions of requiring voters to show photo ID; is Indiana's Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita. In 2005, he helped pass the voter ID bill that made its way to the Supreme Court. He's also the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
As an influential Republican operative, Rokita's Supreme Court victory may lead to a wave of similar laws in other states. If passed before the 2008 election, new photo ID laws could even deliver a decisive margin in the 2008 presidential race.
Once again, the GOP has shown its command of an immutable political truth -- he who controls the machinery of elections can control the outcome of elections. It's time for progressives to fight back.
Our Plans for 2008
April 23, 2008
In 2006, the SoS Project raised $500,000 for seven low-visibility but high-impact Secretary of State races. Every battleground state with a chief elections officer position at stake was contested. Dollar for dollar, we proved to be one of 2006's smartest political investments, winning five of our seven campaigns in battleground states.
Our efforts ensured that Democrats dedicated to clean elections became the chief elections officers in the following states: Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico. Our candidates lost in Colorado and Michigan.
Did our work make a difference? Take Jennifer Brunner, for instance, our winning candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. We raised over $200,000 for Brunner, helping her replace Ken Blackwell. This equaled nearly 10 percent of her budget and close to the $220,000 fundraising advantage she achieved over her Republican opponent. Since taking office, Brunner has:
• Fired the corrupt Cuyhoga County election board that botched the 2004 and recount
• Replaced Cuyahoga County's DREs with paper ballot machines
• Made it possible for any Ohio voter to request a paper ballot in the 2008 election
• Ordered Ohio's public universities to provide utility bills for all students – an easy form of ID to make sure students are not turned away from the polls as they were in 2004
Having proven in 2006 that the SoS Project model works, we are looking to build on our success by supporting candidates committed to reform in 2008. Our targeting is still in process, but we are monitoring races in Oregon, Missouri, Washington, Montana and West Virginia. We are also researching a few county election official races in 2008 battleground states.
We invite suggestions for additional races of interest. Send us an email with your ideas to secstateproject-at-gmail-dot-com.
Republicans win chief election posts in Kentucky and Mississippi
November 07, 2007
Republican Secretary of State candidates handily beat their Democratic opponents in yesterday's election.
In Kentucky, despite a big win for new governor Steve Bashear, Democratic Secretary of State candidate Bruce Hendrickson went down 42 to 57. Incumbent and now two-term Secretary of State Trey Grayson is a rising Republican star. Had Kentucky Democrats fielded a progressive, reform-minded candidate for the office, Trey Grayson might have lost his office on the coattails of a sweeping victory for Steve Bashear.
In Mississippi, Republican Delbert Hosemann easily cruised to victory over Democrat Rob Smith. Hosemann has listed voter ID as one of the "reforms" he wants to bring to Mississippi elections.
SOS Project declined to make endorsements in either race, absent candidates with strong agendas for progressive election reform. This points to the importance of primaries -- we can't win these offices if we don't have candidates who can restore the public's faith in free and fair elections and attract the support of progressive donors and activists.
Update on 2007 races.
October 29, 2007
2007 has been a grim election season with no reform candidates running for Secretary of State.
And the results show it, with Republican romps in two states and a tight race in Kentucky only because of strong gubernatorial coat tails.
Republican Jay Dardenne handily won the Louisiana race for Secretary of State - he had no serious opposition in the race.
Republican Delbert Hosemann is riding a strong financial advantage to a likely win in Mississippi over democrat Rob Smith.
Republican Trey Grayson clings to a narrow lead in Kentucky. The democratic candidate, Bruce Hendrickson, is a strong advocate of voter ID and a gun rights activist. The only reason he is this close is becuase he benefits from the democratic voting wave.
It makes you wonder what these 2007 races could have looked like with progressive candidates and a strong grassroots ground effort.
There are several progressive candidates lining up for 2008 races. Stay tuned for opportunities to make a difference in 2008.
Rob Smith: Candidate for Mississippi Secretary of State
September 09, 2007
The big reason Democrats want to hold onto this job, and Republicans want to take it away, is that the secretary of state is Mississippi's top elections officer and, as such, could influence legislators on issues such as voter identification.
Or so explains the AP in a round up piece on the Mississippi SoS race.
Real estate developer and former state senator Rob Smith won Mississippi's Secretary of State primary on August 20. Clarion-Ledger perspectives editor Sid Salter has the story.
In the primary, Smith framed his strengths around running the Secretary of State's office like a business. He did come out against voter ID, but voting reform has not been the centerpiece of his campaign. In fact, his campaign home page doesn't even mention any positions he might have on election reform.
An SoS primary in Oregon
August 18, 2007
The Secretary of State office in Oregon will be an open seat in the 2008 election. So far, three candidates on the democratic side have announced, with a fourth considering jumping in.
The candidates include:
Kate Brown, state senator from Portland
Vicki Walker, state senator from Eugene
Hank Avakian, state senator from Portland/Beaverton
Also reportedly considering a bid is Rick Metsger, state senator from Welches.
In Oregon, the Secretary of State has a key role in redistricting. If the governor and legislature can't agree on a redistricting, the Secretary of State gets to write the plan.
As a Pacific Northwest political operative told us recently, the Secretary of State office is the "backstop for fair redistricting in Oregon in 2010" and a crucial race that we must win in 2008.
Not what New Orleans deserves.
August 10, 2007
It's a shame.
Despite the fact that the Republican Secretary of State has been on the job less than a year, Louisiana democrats can't field ANY candidate for the post that runs their state's elections.
Not to mention the fact that tens of thousands of voters displaced by Katrina faced draconian standards for casting a ballot in 2006, or that republicans are poised to take back the legislature and possibly the Governor's mansion in 2008.
We've written about it here. But now the AP has the story.
Democrats say they're having trouble finding people to run for two statewide elected positions on this fall's ballot, insurance commissioner and secretary of state - even though the Republican incumbents, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon and Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, have been on the job less than a year.
"We don't really have anybody on the radar right now. That's not for lack of trying," said Julie Vezinot, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Democratic Party.
...
While the South has become a region of red states, Louisiana has lagged in the shift. Though Louisiana is a conservative state, the majority of registered voters remain Democrats, as do the number of elected officials. But Republican voter registration has risen, and the GOP has gained a number of elected jobs, a strong foothold Republicans hope to further this election season.
Sadow said the state has increasing Republican proclivities that were hastened by Hurricane Katrina's displacement of thousands of Louisiana residents who were largely Democratic voters, including many black voters who make up much of the Democratic base for the party in Louisiana.
ActBlue and nationalizing downballot races
August 07, 2007
There's a front page story (below the fold, but still the front page) in today's Boston Globe about ActBlue.com. ActBlue has revolutionized democratic political giving and helped the Secretary of State Project raise over $500,000 for 7 candidates and our strategic fund in the 2006 election cycle.
While the article focuses mostly on fundraising for federal candidates, quotes from founders Matt Debergalis and Ben Rahn try to shift the attention to where their greatest chance for impact lies: nationalizing downballot races.
But Rahn and DeBergalis believe ActBlue's great potential lies in its ability to "nationalize" local races in the 23 states in which the PAC operates. They note that Congressional districts will be redrawn again in 2010. With state legislatures drawing those lines, they say, strategic donations to Democratic state legislative candidates could have a major impact on the fate of the national party."At that level, the relative impact is massive," DeBergalis said. "An entire class of novel ways to tackle political and social problems is sitting there waiting for that catalyst that we can bring."
While the quote is about legislative candidates and redistricting in 2010, ActBlue's first case study in nationalizing a downballot election came courtesy of the Secretary of State Project. Read about the SoS Project below from one of ActBlue's first blog postings and the only fundraising case study currently featured on their site (note, we raised over $85,000 in checks making our total fundraising over $500,000.):
One of the initiatives we're most proud to have been part of in 2006 was the Secretary of State Project, which used ActBlue to raise $415,000 for seven Democratic candidates for Secretary of State in 2008 presidential battlegrounds.
The result: Democratic victories in Ohio, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, and Iowa, and with them hope for fair 2008 presidential elections in these states. (One of the project's common refrains was "No more Ken Blackwells!")
The Secretary of State Project is a great example of how you can use ActBlue to bring national attention to local candidates. Normally, raising money for a down-ballot candidate in another state is a hard sell. But by simultaneously fundraising for candidates across the country around a related theme, you create a national cause whose importance will be readily apparent to your prospective donors.
One of the innovations of the Secretary of State Project's use of ActBlue was how we were able to help people contribute money to Secretary of State candidates who were not in ActBlue enabled states. If anyone out there is interested in running a downballot campaign by using ActBlue to promote a national slate of local candidates feel free to hit us up to share our experience at secstateproject - at - gmail - dot - com.
And congratulations to ActBlue on much deserved recognition for the role it plays in funding our movement.
A challenger announces in Montana
August 05, 2007
The Great Falls Review reports Linda McCulloch, superintendent of schools in Montana, has announced a bid for Secretary of State.
Brad Johnson, the incumbent republican Secretary of State in Montana was first elected in 2004. He has been an ardent opponent of the state's Election Day Registration system. While EDR in Montana is not as liberal as we would like - you have to go to a county office to register and vote on Election Day, you can't do it at the polls like you can in Minnesota for example - it's a positive step forward.
According to the Montana blog Left in the West, here's what Secretary of State Johnson has to say about Election Day Registration:
encourages procrastination, discourages informed voting, and creates chaos for election workers - chaos that endangers the integrity of our elections
Not only that, but Johnson is currently serving as the state chair of Romney for President, taking a high profile partisan role in an election that he is charged with running impartially. For more about the increasing attention paid to Secretaries of State who play partisan politics see our earlier post "you can't be a player and a referee."
McCulloch has pledged to defend Election Day Registration and make youth registration a priority. The
Great Falls Review article reports:
McCulloch said her priorities will be young voter participation, finding more election judges, heightening civics awareness, and forming citizen councils to "develop more effective ways to do the business of the office.''
She announced plans for a youth vote project, and pledged to request legislation in 2009 allowing state high school students to serve as election judges to combat a dearth of such officials.
"It's a win for the student, as well as for the elections process in Montana,'' McCulloch said.
It's worth noting that John Tester won his 2006 Senate race by only 3500 votes, and his winning vote count included many student ballots cast as a direct consequence of Election Day Registration rules. We'll be closely watching the Montana race as we make decisions about our 2008 targeting. If you are working on the McCulloch campaign or with any other potential democratic challengers in the Montana Secretary of State race, contact us at secstateproject - at - gmail - dot - com.
Secretary of State Project 2007 plans
August 04, 2007
In 2006, the Secretary of State Project raised over $500,000 and helped
elect five reformers to the chief elections office in key presidential
battleground states. Dollar for dollar, our model proved to be one of
the most effective political investments of the cycle.
We continue this work as opportunities arise to employ partisan
fundraising and independent expenditures in the service of election
transparency and reform.
There are three Secretary of State contests in 2007 - Kentucky,
Louisiana and Mississippi. Barring new developments, the Secretary of
State Project is declining to back candidates in these elections.
Why aren't we endorsing in 2007? The short explanation is simple. The
Secretary of State Project was founded in order to protect the election
in key presidential states. Voting rights abuses happen far and wide in
this country, but their impact is most intensely experienced in states
with close presidential races. That said, in an off year especially, a
Secretary of State race of national significance (such as Louisiana's
contest to decide who will hold the fate of voters displaced by Katrina)
would be of great interest.
Likewise, we would strongly consider entering a Secretary of State race
featuring a viable and forward-thinking reform candidate who put forth a
public platform including key movement ideas such as Election Day or
automatic registration, a vigorous opposition to voter ID laws, and a
visible campaign for election transparency including paper ballots.
So far, none of the 2007 races meets this criteria.
In Louisiana, the incumbent Republican Secretary of State is running
unopposed. The deadline for candidates to qualify for statewide office
is September 6. We are bitterly disappointed that a progressive
candidate willing to fight for the voting rights of those displaced by
Hurricane Katrina has not emerged in Louisiana.
In Kentucky, Bruce Hendrickson is the Democratic nominee. One of his top
issues is tougher voter ID laws. The movement to require voter ID at the
polls is rightwing legislative strategy aimed at suppressing the vote of
minorities, poor people and students. On the tails of a strong win by
gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear, Hendrickson could be swept into
office. However, if reelected, the current Secretary of State -
Republican Trey Grayson - will be termed out in 2011, giving us the
opportunity to field a candidate who will protect the election for all
voters.
In Mississippi, it's less clear cut. John Windsor is the likely to
emerge from the state's August 7 primary as the Democratic nominee.
The candidate elected to Mississippi's open Secretary of State seat will
have to implement court-ordered mandatory party registration as well as
a new voter ID requirements. Unfortunately, none of the candidates
running in the Democratic primary is a proven progressive champion in
the mold of Minnesota's Mark Ritchie or Ohio's Jennifer Brunner.
As a result we have decided instead to focus our time and energy on
planning for the 2008 election cycle where our endorsements, campaign
dollars and volunteer efforts will have the greatest impact on electing
reform candidates to the office that controls how our votes are cast and
counted.
We will continue to monitor the 2007 races and will keep you updated on
key developments. We will also provide intelligence on 2008 races as
candidates declare for office and our targeting becomes established.
"you can’t be both a player and a referee"
August 01, 2007
The role Katherine Harris played as both chief elections officer in Florida and co-chair of the Bush/Cheney campaign, was one of the reasons we founded the SoS Project. When the 2000 election hung in the balance, she had dual loyalties - to the voters and to the Bush campaign. She chose the Bush campaign, and thus began one of the of the most disastrous presidencies in history.
In yesterday's New York Times, Ian Urbina writes:
Across the country, state voting officials routinely participate as candidates in races they are responsible for overseeing or act as leaders in their political parties. In the last presidential election, the secretaries of state in Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, were chairmen of their states’ re-election campaigns for President Bush.
Reform-minded Secretaries of State - like SoS Project success stories Mark Ritchie in Minnesota and Jennifer Brunner in Ohio - are running on platforms that specifically reject this kind of double dealing. But unfortunately SoS Project values are in the minority among today's Secretaries of State. The new president of the National Association of Secretaries of State is Indiana's Todd Rokita. He's currently the co-chairman of his state's finance committee for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. With leadership like that, who needs ethics reform?
There are efforts to legislate a solution to this ethics crisis, but opposition is deep and widespread within the community of elections officials as well as the Republican party, an opponent to voting rights in recent history.
Representative Susan A. Davis, Democrat of California, has introduced a bill prohibiting chief state election officials from serving on the political campaigns of federal candidates. When Ms. Davis submitted the bill to the National Association of Secretaries of State for its support, she said she was initially told that they would present it for discussion at the annual convention. Later, however, she was told that it would not be because opposition was too strong...
A similar bill in the Senate is sponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. Mrs. Feinstein’s bill has 11 co-sponsors, all Democrats, and is expected to face significant Republican opposition, as is the House bill.Neither bill would prohibit election officials from overseeing elections in which they are candidates. Aides to both Ms. Davis and Mrs. Feinstein said such provisions might raise First Amendment or states’ rights challenges.
And neither bill is likely to pass anytime soon. The SoS Project is currently working on its targeting for 2008. Electing reform-minded Secretaries of State is the single most effective way to take back our elections and restore transparency, fairness and uniform protection of civil rights to our democratic process.
Rep. Davis describes the crisis among Secretaries of State simply:
“No one likes anyone to meddle in their jobs,” she said. “But you can’t be both a player and a referee at the same time."
Secretary of State races in 2007
June 12, 2007
The Secretary of State Project is currently researching candidates in the three states where chief elections officers are up for a vote in 2007: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
In Kentucky, Bruce Hendrickson won the May 22nd Democratic primary. Hendrickson's campaign was a mixed bag. On the upside he argued for a voter verified paper trail. On the very considerable downside, he also advocated for voter IDs which have been proven to disenfranchise minority voters.
In Louisiana, no democratic candidate has emerged to take on Repbulican Jay Dardenne. In fact, when Dardenne was elected to fill the SoS position which was vacated by the death of republican Secretary of State W. Fox McKeithen. Dardenne's democratic opponent in the fall 2006 election, Frances Heitmeier, withdrew two weeks into the special runoff. The democrat said that it was impossible to win because the New Orleans base had been destroyed by Katrina. He threw in the towell and Dardenne was elected without opposition.
Given the national significance of the Katrina vote the 2006, the performance of democrats in the 2006 special election and the lack of a declared candidate for the 2007 general election does not bode well for voting rights in Louisiana. The flling deadline to run is September 6, 2007. If anyone knows a good potential candidate, email secstateproject at gmail dot com.
In Mississippi, the SoS seat will be an open race as the current Democratic Secretary of State is retiring. There had been talk of a progressive candidate entering the race. However she declined to do so.
Here's how the fundraising is shaping up in that race, as reported by Laura Hipp in the Mississippi state government blog at the Clarion Ledger.
Secretary of State candidate - May donations and total raised.
D- Rob Smith of Richland $2,758 $2,600
D-Jabari Toins of Jackson $163 $163
D-John Windsor of Corinth $9,425 $135,521
R-Delbert Hosemann of Flowood $44,674 $340,132
R- Mike Lott of Petal $20,700 $40,609
R-Jeffrey Rupp of Starkville $9,800 $101,225
R- Gene Sills of Crystal Springs NA NA
Clearly John Windsor is winning the money race, though he has just more than half the cash of the leading Republican fundraiser.
Currently, we're watching the races in all three of these 2007 contests. If you have local knowledge or other strategic information about any of these candidates or races, email secstateproject at gmail dot com.
Update: Ohio SoS Jennifer Brunner
Since taking office, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has cleaned house at the Cuyohoga County Board of Elections.
... all four members of the Cuyahoga elections board -- two Democrats and two Republicans -- because of a series of problems, including the criminal convictions of two board workers for their handling of a recount.
Among the casualties was Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett.
Cuyohoga County - with over one million voters - is the biggest voting jurisdiction in the state that delivered the 2004 presidential election to George W. Bush.
In the news this week, Brunner is taking on Ken Blackwell-era corruption.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that she is seeking return of over $80,000 in farewell bonuses issued by Blackwell before he left office. Attorney General Marc Dann has declared the bonuses illegal.
Progress Ohio has the complete story.
Update on SoS Mark Ritchie in Minnesota
Mark Ritchie - arguably the most progressive Secretary of State in America - faced a set back two weeks ago. At the close of Minnesota's legislative session, the Governor Tim Pawlenty (a Republican vice presidential hopeful) vetoed all of Ritchie's election reform bills which had passed both the House and the Senate.
The bills vetoed included a plan to help soldiers vote from overseas and measures that would have reduced the costs of running elections. The most frustrating veto of the package was for a bill that would have introduced "automatic registration" a significant advance in election administration reform. Automatic registration would mean that anyone with a drivers licese or other state ID card would be automatically registered to vote unless they specifically opted out.
On a recent visit to San Francisco, Ritchie attended a gathering of Secretary of State donors and discussed his efforts to lead election reform at the state and national level. Additional donor events with Ritchie will be scheduled for New York, DC and possibly Los Angeles, scheduling allowed.
We're still here.
December 27, 2006
Last year, with your help, the Secretary of State Project helped defeat Bush Administration cronies and elect election integrity Democrats to Secretary of State in five targeted states. In Ohio we defeated a Bush/Cheney ally and Texas transplant to elect a Democrat who ran on an voter protection platform. In New Mexico, the Secretary of State Project support ran radio ads statewide and helped stop a surging Republican candidate from capturing an open seat. And in Minnesota we used cable TV ads to target women and senior voters, helping an election-protection champion and progressive hero beat a two-term Republican incumbent. WIth wins in Iowa and Nevada, we elected five election protection candidates to a key office in crucial 2008 presidential battleground states.
In 2006, we had major victories ? but the fight to make sure every vote counts in this country is just getting started.
Sunday at midnight is our last end-of-quarter fundraising deadline for 2006. Your support now sends a powerful message to would-be election integrity candidates that we will be behind them in the tough races in 2007. By contributing now, we can also send a message to Republicans and those who would jeopardize honest and fair elections that we are here to stay.
Contribute now and send that message.
This year the Secretary of State Project is looking at some key state and local elections that will directly impact our ability to protect the vote for years to come, including the Louisiana Secretary of State. Because this is an off-cycle year and these may not be high-profile races, we cannot count on the national parties and major political players on our side to take on these races. Unfortunately those who want to stonewall election reform and protect entrenched Republican interests won?t back off, even in an off-cycle year, and will be prepared to dump money and support into any race they think they can win. The Secretary of State Project must be there to counter them. We may well be the last line of defense for election protection in 2007.
We promise you these will be tough fights, but we cannot expect anyone else to do this work. And we cannot let the Republican voter suppression candidates win in states like Louisiana, where a Republican victory would mean forever losing the votes of thousands of disenfranchised Katrina survivors, and ensuring Republican control of the state for years to come.
Electing candidates in 2007 to protect the vote in 2008 and beyond depends on us, and the stakes are huge. We need to be there to support the 2007 candidates who will protect our democracy by protecting elections. But to start strong, we need your help now.
We cannot let up now -- contribute before the deadline.